Low temperature growth of semi-polar InN (101¯1) on non-crystalline substrate by plasma-assisted laser ablation technique

• Low-temperature growth of InN ( 10 1 ¯ 1 ) on non crystalline substrate i.e. quartz. • The growth is demonstrated using the plasma-assisted laser ablation technique which is user friendly, economic and has a fast growth rate. • The precise control overgrowth of the planar 2D nanostructures to 3D multifaceted nanocrystals of InN is reported by varying growth by a factor of 100 °C only. • The temperature dependent growth of InN reported herewith is observed to govern by the Wulff principle. • Semi-polar i . e . ( 10 1 ¯ 1 ) growth of InN low-cost non-crystalline substrates can be the choice towards the production of next-generation electronic devices. We report low-temperature growth of semipolar ( 10 1 ¯ 1 ) InN films on a non-crystalline substrate (quartz) using a novel route i.e. plasma-assisted laser ablation technique. The structural, morphological, optical, electrical and chemical/elemental environment of these films was investigated using respective techniques. Dramatic changes associated with the surface morphology of these films/ nanostructures are observed to depend on the growth temperature which is changed only by the difference of 100 °C. These changes are mainly the transformation from a continuous planar 2D nanostructured film (deposited at RT) to 3D faceted nanostructured film (deposited at 300 °C). Observed changes/transformations are attributed to the surface diffusion processes, which are temperature-dependent. These structural transformations are observed to affect the optical as well as electrical properties of the films.